Great game - weak AI or great strategy?

April 5, 2006 11:48 PM from

First of all, this game is great. I was an avid player of the Civ series and was looking forward to this space version. And it didn't disappoint except..... However, I was surprised that the Ai is so weak in many ways in this game. Where as in Civ I could never do well after dozens of games on the hardest setting (I forgot the name of it.. deity?)it only took a couple of games to easily win on the suicidal setting. I never lost a colony! Now after glancing at the notes on the latest patch, which I haven't downloaded yet, there may be a few things that will make it tougher for me to do this. The biggest thing is not being able to see the boundaries of the other empires at the start of the game. Here is the foolproof xenophobic expansionist/builder type strategy I have used. I say this because I do no tech trading with the majors, expand as fast as possible,concentrate on building the colonies and use scouts (snipers)to eliminate the fog o' war, and let em come and go down like ducks at a shooting gallery similar to what I did in the Civ series During the beginning colony rush phase, I would set military to 100 percent,design fastest colony ship I could,rush buy a factory or two,rush buy a colony or two and send them out to in the directions where the boundaries were the farthest from mine (I always play gigantic,scattered,uncommon). As soon as everything was nearly colonized at my borders, I would build constructors and my version of snipers (attack of 1,no defense,super fast and heavy on sensors)until the other empires started their research on planetary invasion/bombardment (forgot which one). This was all at 100 percent military. Then flip over to 100 percent social to build the colonies up. Forget translator, no need to even acknowledge their existence! Then when they finish the research on invasion/bombardment and get closer to builing transports (can always check to see if they have built any,) flip over to research, and maybe trade with the minors. A few empires will declare war, but without transports, what can they do, especially the ones across the galaxy!!LOL!! If they do send ships they go for the snipers anyway,and i can fly circles around them, and they get dizzy. Only until my neighbor builds a transport (usually unescorted)do I set the sliders to an actual combination of all 3 (heavy on military) and start building fleets. Once you catch up a little on research back to 100 military,crank out everything, end of game will be at hand in a few years.(you can always sue for peace and get any techs you don't have, or just steal them as you conquer.. So, here are some observations of the game and AI: 1) since you can't lose a colony until the AI builds transports, there is no need to build any kind of military. (far cry from CIV,you could lose an undefended city to a warrior, real fast) - good strategy here I think, you take a gamble on building the initial colonies and research, but there is so much time for that until the AI finally builds those transports. I feel like i'm cheating, lol. This is they key to the game. Do NOT build a military until you neighbor has built its first transports!!! Just the snipers... PROBLEM: By the way, are we supposed to be able to see how many and what type of ships they have,what tech they are researching,etc..without espionage? Not to be able to see that would change the strategy a bit, I would have to guess what they were working on and couldn't time my military/social/research flips to the tee., but you can always check to see what techs your adversaries have at the diplomacy screen..... but number 2 (see next comment) is a greater flaw. once they have built those fleets.. 2) wow, my snipers can just fly circles around those enemy fleets, destroy their undefended starbases and transports,bait those fleets to wherever i want them to go (usually away from my colonies,until I am ready to do the social-military flip PROBLEM: bad AI here I think, why waste your time on a 1hp,1att ship when you could park your fleets in orbit around all my undefended colonies, and why build non resource starbases if you ain't gonna equip them to defend themselves? 3) only research what you can't buy from minors and fixate on only one type of weapon PROBLEM:(forget defense.... worthless as i see it) my favorite is missles (either i'm emotional here or they really do provide the most bang the buck..)concentrate on logistics,minature,hull only, forget the socials they come later or was bought from minors . defense is not needed in this game,never put the first one on any ships i design. 4)ok now they're ready to come after me...... too late, usually have so much cash at this point I can buy the galaxy.. well not really, but i'm set (remember the 100 percent social while they building defenders and frigates and such..) if they come early ,rush buy what you need. -- and when they do attack my snipers can see them a comin' from lt. yrs. away. - PROBLEM ai does not coordinate at all,(I remember the stacks o' death in the CIV series.

..... at least scout out the territory, and forget about them snipers!!! 5) when my neighbors finally waste their military on me , time to build the transports (only adv troops will do), conquer them and work slowly outward, stealing the techs you need to finish the job(each empire gets progressively tougher to beat)game over. PROBLEMS: the AI's give up too quick, or they give you too much if they think you're weak and fighting for good,evil,whatever. (geez they give you starbases and stuff),or they never gang (ally) up on you I think this is by far the best space strategy game out there (forget the spreadsheet MOO's), I just can't believe I'm doing this good being an average gamer,maybe it's because I love this game so much, I am in zen with it.!!! Keep up the good work, patches and all (game only will get better!). Maybe the latest patch tweaks some of these issues..

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